Talk:Healing touch

Ability Naming Conventions
The following sources are used for determining evolved human ability names, in order:
1. Canon Sources	Episodes
2. Near-canon Sources	Webisodes, Graphic Novels, iStories, Heroes Evolutions
3. Secondary Sources	Episode commentary, Interviews, Heroes: Survival
4. Common names for abilities	Names from other works
5. Descriptions of abilities	Descriptions
6. Possessor's name	If no non-speculative description is possible
Note: The highlighted row represents the level of the source used to determine healing touch's name.
Source/Explanation
Nathan explicitly names this ability when he asks Linderman, "what could you possibly know about healing?" in .07%.

Villains images

Requesting an image of Linderman using his power to restore Angela's memory. --Ted C 10:02, 11 November 2008 (EST)

Heal vs Cure

Cancer is not just an injury that can be repaired. It's an ongoing disease condition in which mutated cells reproduce in an uncontrolled fashion. To cure cancer, Austin had to stop the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells as well as repair the damage to his mother's liver. To my mind, cancer is a disease you have to cure, not just an injury you have to heal. --Ted C 16:47, 27 March 2007 (EDT)

• I know what cancer is, as having many family members with it. The reason why I reworded it was due to the nature of the narrative while the flashback occurred. He talked about organs failing, and how he healed them. In a way, he healed his mother by regrowing healthy cells versus cancer cells. For instance, research now in the field of "curing" cancer is regrowing healthy tissue instead of cancerous tissue, or organ cells instead of cancer cells, and removing the cancer cells. Again, the reason why I rephrased the description was because the ability is known as "healing", so I put it in terms of healing versus curing. Plus, who's to say that his mother was cured of cancer? She merely got better than her previous state, then he left. --Bob 16:56, 27 March 2007 (EDT)
  • Given that we don't anything about how Austin's mother fared after he left home, then, I don't have any further objection either way. --Ted C 17:03, 27 March 2007 (EDT)
  • I have tried to update the entry to reflect exactly what we know about th incident. --Ted C 17:06, 27 March 2007 (EDT)
    • Sounds like what I was trying to do. Good job.--Bob 18:59, 27 March 2007 (EDT)

Nidia's Mexican healer friend (aka La Curandera)

• She explicitly said "I am a healer".
• She attempted to heal Maya in the same manner Linderman healed Heidi.
• As she attempted to use her healing power, Maya's "blackness" blocked the healing, in the same way, and with the same reaction and sound effects as when the Haitian blocks Matt's power.
• Her ability to know about Maya's blackness, and say no one could heal her, shows a understanding of healing, far greater than any 'fake' could be able to determine.--HiroDynoSlayer (talk) 10/1/2007 23:09 (EST)
  • While she did in fact say she was a healer, what she really said is that she's a curandera. That's her occupation, not necessarily her power.--Hardvice (talk) 00:46, 2 October 2007 (EDT)

When I watched that scene, the sound effects sounded like those when Matt Parkman uses telepathy. I got the impression from that scene and both the visual and audio cues that while she may be a healer, her power itself is more along the lines of telepathy. (Admin 23:11, 1 October 2007 (EDT))

• I thought telepathy, too. I doubt we'll find out anything more about her, and it's too speculative to say for sure. A note on her page at best. (Sounds like a good Behind the Eclipse question, though.) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 00:06, 2 October 2007 (EDT)
  • Agreed. Her dialog could easily be thoughts Maya has on her ability (such as being filled with darkness that streams down from her eyes) and it sounds more like commentary than her actually identifying the problem. I think it's telepathy if anything.--Bob 00:08, 2 October 2007 (EDT)
    • I'll restate this again. Think about it carefully. There is no doubt, from the episode, that the Mexican woman used Telepathy. That power was not blocked. However, something else was blocked. Both of their reactions, as well as the sound-effects, showed something being blocked, while Telepath was working just fine. The lady specifically stated, "I am a healer". Exact Episodic quote. Then she took Maya's hands, and began to attempt to heal her, in the exact manner that Linderman began to heal Heidi. Only then, was a power blocked. And it wasn't Telepathy being blocked, she continued to use telepathy. None of her telepathic statements were ever cut-off, or blocked, or prevented. Based solely on what happened in that scene, and what was said in that seen, and how other episodic scenes in the past have dealt with those similar powers, this Mexican lady is both what she claimed to be, "I am a healer, and based on her results, "a telepath...a telepathic healer. --HiroDynoSlayer (talk) 10/2/2007 11:39 (EST)
      • Again, in Spanish, when she said "I am a healer", it's more like "I am a construction worker" (occupation) and less like "I am a telepath" (superpower). Curandera is a real, everyday occupation that real people have in the real world. They go around saying "I am a healer" all the time, and none of them have any superpowers. The abilities she displayed do not involve doing any actual healing. Maybe she's a telepath; maybe she has some kind of psychic ability to diagnose. But she does not display any sign of being able to heal people Linderman fashion whatsoever.--Hardvice (talk) 14:36, 2 October 2007 (EDT)
      • And she's still not Mexican. She was trying to cross into Mexico, not out. She's Guatemalan.--Hardvice (talk) 14:37, 2 October 2007 (EDT)
      • The confusion over what country the twins are in almost makes me want to create a map, a la Indiana Jones with a big red line from The Republic of Dominica to Guatemala, to Mexico, to wherever they go next. Then an article like "Event: Herreras' Flight" to help those without a good grasp on Central American geography follow them episode by episode. Being from Houston, I have enough friends from Central America that I'm fairly familiar with common migration routes. :P--NissanVersaDootDoot 00:48, 4 October 2007 (EDT)
        • Howdy fellow Texan. I bet you knew what a "coyote" was, too. As for the article--that actually sounds pretty helpful. It could be a good feature to include on Maya's victims if you don't want to write an entirely separate article.--Hardvice (talk) 00:53, 4 October 2007 (EDT)

Notes

• We have a couple entries in the Notes section about people who were called "healers", but haven't demonstrated any specific ability related to the power of Healing as it's being documented here. I think they should be removed, any other thoughts? (Admin 09:45, 2 October 2007 (EDT))
  • While the scene with the healer did show more characteristics of telepathy, she specifically called herself a healer, and went through the same initial motions to heal Maya that Linderman did to heal Heidi. For me, trying to be the least speculative, it appeared that she showed two powers, Healing, (albeit claimed and attempted but not succeeded), and Telepathy. Maya's ability did not stop or block her Telepathy, because she was able to use it. The only blocking that occurred, was on her Healing power. If the only power she held was Telepathy only, then she wouldn't have gotten any readings, and we wouldn't even know she had telepathy because it wouldn't have worked if it were being blocked. Maya's ability blocked something, by her reaction, and by the blocking-sound effects. The only other power stated in the show, was Healing. "I am a healer". As cannonistically direct from the episode as it possibly could be. Maya's power didn't block Telepathy, it blocked Healing. --HiroDynoSlayer (talk) 10/2/2007 11:33 (EST)
    • The audio/visual effects were similar to Matt Parkman's when he uses his telepathy normally. So it does seem she used at least some version of telepathy to get an idea of what was wrong with Maya. But just because she calls herself a healer isn't nearly enough evidence to say she has the Healing special ability. It doesn't look like Maya's power blocked anything, the healer was just frightened by what she learned about Maya's power. In terms of canon, all that can be interpreted from that episode is that the womain claims to be a healer, not that she has the Healing special ability. Even as a note, this is misleading. (Admin 11:38, 2 October 2007 (EDT))
    • I watched the scene again and I'm not so sure anymore. Her power may be something like empathic or telepathic healing or something. So it's possible both are right and that the effect was Maya's power overwhelming the healer.  :) (Admin 11:46, 2 October 2007 (EDT))
      • Also to consider, before dismissing this woman as a healer, is what Ryan posted over in the Lizards Talk. The credits specifically stated her daughter's name as 'the healer's daughter'. That's two specific episodic references to this woman being a healer....To say she isn't one, is more speculative than accepting what the episode redundantly stated otherwise. She wasn't successful in healing, so we didn't witness her heal....but the episode denotes twice, she is a healer. She was also power-blocked while attempting to heal, and she wasn't blocked from using her telepathic ability. HHHhhhmmm what was she blocked from doing? --HiroDynoSlayer (talk) 10/2/2007 11:49 (EST)
        • I'm not disputing that she was a healer. I'm disputing whether her special ability was that of Healing. Most healers don't have special abilities. They heal using herbs or medicines or even spiritual means. It's also unclear whether anything was blocked at all. She did appear to use a telepathic power to learn about Maya's condition. Whether that was plain telepathy or some type of telepathic/empathic component to a potentially healing ability is unknown. (Admin 11:57, 2 October 2007 (EDT))
          • I would dispute that she was definitely a healer of any sort. Many people call themselves healers despite the fact that their practice is a bunch of malarky. It is just as possible that this woman was completely bogus as it is that she was completely genuine. She demonstrated no definite power and healed no one. Besides, the name "healer" can be equally applied to Claire, Linderman, Beth Lindall, or Dr. Witherson. Heck, even Sylar said he could fix or heal Brian Davis. I'm just not ready to make the leap that this woman was an evolved human yet, and certainly not that she has the power of healing. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 12:29, 2 October 2007 (EDT)
            • I take the use of her title as "healer" pretty loosely, too. In fact when I first saw her I figured she was more of a "spiritual healer" or even, as you said, completely bogus. :) However if you check out the audio/visual cues you can see there is some sort of power at play. The audio is in fact very similar to Matt's telepathy specifically during moments of tension (they use a less tense version of the effect for other situations). Compare it for instance to the effects when Angela mentally screams for Matt to get out of her head. When it comes to audio cues that a power is in effect they've yet to try to mislead us. Audio cues have been pretty reliable so far (even if we sometimes mistake one for another). It definitely does seem that the "healer" has some power which if it's not a form of telepathy at least has a telepathic component and allowed her to sense the danger of Maya's condition. (Admin 12:46, 2 October 2007 (EDT))
              • Devil's advocate here. This woman didn't do any of the so-called healer tricks, no herbs, no medicines, no spiritual conjuring or praying. Nada. None of that. She did however, go through the same process in attempting to heal Maya, as Linderman did when healing Heidi. A evolved human power was blocked, because of the sound-effect used in other shows to show power-blocking. Telepathy wasn't blocked, it kept on working. What power was blocked then? Was she trying to teleport? No. Was she trying to fly? No. Was she trying to turn metal into puddles? No. She was attempting to heal Maya when the power-block effect was manifested. Telepathy was never blocked. A normal shaman healers tricks wouldn't have been blocked using that power-block special effect. Bottom line, is we can brush her off under the rug of being an unconfirmed nobody, but the episode said she was a healer, twice, and she made no attempt to heal via conventional means; but did attempt to heal using the same evolved human technique that Linderman used, and was power-blocked from doing what she was attempting to do....heal Maya. She wasn't power-blocked from using telepathy. Had the show not used the power-block, then I would agree with you that there is no grounds to make a leap that she is an evolved human healer. But since she did use the evolved human power of Telepathy and it wasn't blocked, she is an evolved human in that right alone. No conventional means could have revealed those things to her like that. Since the of both the scene, and the power-block were in the context of her healing, that is the only thing the power-block could have been preventing. We shouldn't need tons and tons of episode appearances, and extremely tightly presented criteria to credit someone for being evolved. That one scene showed her being evolved on two different levels; and the lack of success of healing shouldn't prevent her documentation, no more than when the Haitian blocks Parkman or anyone else from not being evolved in regards to their powers. She should at the very least, be listed as an evolved human based on the telepathy she clearly showed, and noted as 'a suspected evolved human' in regards to the shows portrayal of her as a healer whose power(not telepathy) was blocked. JMO --HiroDynoSlayer (talk) 10/2/2007 12:49 (EST)
              • We don't know that a power was blocked. The reason you're associating it with a power being blocked is because it's the sound effect used when Matt Parkman reads a mind and no thoughts are spoken -- like when his power is blocked by the Haitian. But it's just as likely that she was simply reading Maya's thoughts and the producers chose not to let us hear those thoughts for stylistic purposes (like that it might ruin the story). The fact that she put her hands on Maya like Linderman does also doesn't necessarily mean anything because that's something she would do anyway in her everyday, real-world, non-superpowered occupation as a curandera. I can squint all I want, but it doesn't mean I have space-time manipulation. She didn't actually heal anybody, so there's no way we can claim she has the power of healing--especially bearing in mind that "healing" is just the name we have assigned to this power, so there's no reason to presume there's any special significance to the coincidence that they translated "curandera" as "healer" and we have an article called "healing".--14:43, 2 October 2007 (EDT)
• The note on this page remains speculative by association. It would be like putting a note on rapid cell regeneration saying "Kaito fell 30 stories. Whether he survived or not remains unknown. Whether or not he has the power to regenerate is also unknown." Assuming the translated word for "healer" has anything to do with the power Linderman had is a neat stretch of imagination, but does not belong on this page. Doing so unnecessarily implicates the woman as having a power she may not have. Let's wait to see if this woman ever actually does anything other than state her profession before we write a manipulative note that leads people to question "what power, if any, the woman actually has". I'll remove the note now. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 07:03, 3 October 2007 (EDT)

Peter?

In Out of Time, Future Angela refers to Peter as a "healer." While it's highly likely she was referring to his rapid cell regeneration (something she has witnessed), should it still be noted on this page, in the background/notes section, in order to prevent confusion? *cough*Or could Angela know something we don't?*cough* (It's likely that Peter met Linderman at some point).--Tim Thomason 20:38, 7 November 2007 (EST)

• I'm no expert on Heroes' fictional superpowers... but i think he would have needed to meet him after he had manifested his ability. And since we see him manifest it and during that time he hadn't met Linderman i don't think he had absorbed his power. Sure Peter could have met him in the past... but i dont know if he was able to absorb Linderman's healing.--.Vault (talk) 11:43, 24 November 2007 (EST)
  • Right. It's certainly possible he met Linderman before (his parents were both friends with him), but we just don't know. Until he demonstrates the ability or we learn more about his relationship with Linderman, we can neither say he has absorbed the ability nor that he was exposed to it. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 12:11, 24 November 2007 (EST)

• In addition, in the first episode of Villians, "The Second Coming", Peter kissed Nathan in the forehead, and then he's alive again, the same way Ishi heals, she kisses them...--NiveKJ13 (talk2me) 09:51, 13 December 2008 (EST)